


Whispered Words

by mansikka



Series: Things That Need To Be Said [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Insecurity, M/M, Pillow Talk, Switching, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-21 07:36:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12452673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Alec is feeling insecure, and Magnus does all he can to reassure him. And now he's reassured him with words, there's some other ways he wants to show him how much he is loved.





	Whispered Words

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) you can probably read this as a standalone if you want; it's just around 5000 words of Magnus showering Alec with affection in their bed. But, it did start out as a tamer insecure!Alec fic that you can read first if you want to!
> 
> Enjoy :)
> 
> x

For the first time in weeks, the moment they step through the portal to the apartment Alec lets himself breathe out in a hard exhale instead of pasting on a smile to hide behind.   

“How hard has today been for you?” Magnus asks, turning and holding on to both his hands, looking up at him in concern.

“Pretty tough,” Alec admits, not even having acknowledged any of the bigger things that have got to him about the Institute to himself. Which isn't a surprise since he's not said a word about any of the smaller ones out loud.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Magnus offers, smiling as though he’ll happily hear him out; every irritation and annoyance, unpleasant outcome and difficult word.   

Alec thinks about it. Debates if all the problems that make up his work currently are worth spending a moment of his time outside of it thinking about. Wasting his time with Magnus discussing trivial inconveniences, when they could be doing anything else.

“They’re nothing urgent,” Alec says, shuffling a tiny bit closer. “Nothing that… nothing I can’t deal with, or won’t get resolved. Just a lot of small stuff that—”

“Mounts up, when you have other things on your mind?” Magnus suggests for him, taking a small step closer himself.

“Exactly,” Alec smiles; Magnus hums in response, then leans in for a soft kiss.

“You know, Alexander,” he says, mumbling it against his jaw. “I intend to listen to you, about all of that, and anything else, whenever you wish to talk about it. But for tonight…”

Magnus doesn’t say anything else, but he doesn’t have to. The look he’s giving Alec is so full of love, and intent, that there is no way for him to mistake how Magnus would like them to spend the rest of their evening. So Alec gives a swallow that’s thick, and cracked, and answers only with a nod. Magnus smiles for seeing it, presses one more soft kiss to his lips then turns and tugs on his hand, asking him to follow.

When they’re in their room and Magnus has closed the door, setting a dozen candles flickering with a careless snap of his fingers, he holds Alec by the waist and slowly walks him backward to the bed until his legs are hitting the side of it and he’s sitting down instinctively. Without saying a word, Magnus drops to his knees, and with gentle fingers helps Alec out of his shoes and socks. He slides his hands up his legs then to rest over his thighs just above Alec’s knees, using the leverage to stand. And as he does he pulls Alec back to his feet and wraps his arms around him, leaning in.

“Where do I start first?” Magnus teases, pressing against him with a wide smile.

“Wherever you want,” Alec answers, his heart giving an excited throb for whatever Magnus is currently planning, that he can see the workings of in the dancing of his eyes.

Magnus hums again, sneaking his fingers beneath Alec’s shirt, pressing his fingertips lightly into his skin as he circles his thumb over his belt. “Do you remember, Alexander, the day I came to give you that preliminary autopsy report? Before _we_ began?” he says, his voice soft as he slowly begins unbuttoning Alec’s shirt from the bottom up.

Alec nods, concentrating on the deliberate brush of Magnus’ knuckles up his chest, and the way his fingers play with the hair there once he has the last button open; something Magnus has always liked to do the moment he gets his shirt off.

“I knew you were… exquisite, even before I had seen you shirtless,” Magnus tells him, pulling back one side of the shirt and kissing his exposed shoulder. “But to see you stood there, training, so focused, bearing yourself to me like that; it was… I can tell you, Alexander, that the thoughts I had in that moment about what we could do together in that very training room, were… anything but innocent. Or appropriate, for how long we had known each other,”

“It… it was deliberate,” Alec manages to blurt out, as Magnus carefully slides his shirt off one arm, gripping lightly around his waist as he walks behind him, kissing a path across his shoulders, then pulling the other side of the shirt down and off.

“What was?”

“Lydia said…” and Alec freezes, in case Magnus doesn’t want to hear her name. Magnus comes back to stand in front of him, with only curiosity in his eyes. “Lydia said you were coming. To the Institute. I knew you’d… I knew you’d probably come find me,”

Alec watches as Magnus swallows hard, his eyes get a little wider, and his lips begin to curl up in a smile of dawning realization.

“So, you… deliberately put this… irresistible body of yours on display for me,” Magnus says, fingers up and splaying over Alec’s chest, “knowing that I was due to visit. Doing it purposely to tempt and taunt me?”

“I wasn’t taunting—” Alec begins to deny, but there’s a hungry growl that cuts him off, and Magnus is kissing him furiously, stealing the very breath from his lungs.

“Alexander,” Magnus says urgently as he nips into his neck. “It would have been inappropriate to tell you at the time. But you can imagine, I am sure, exactly what I needed to do to relieve myself once I got home. After all of this on display,” he adds with a flex of his fingers that grazes over a nipple.

Alec’s mind is filled with images of Magnus touching himself. He raises his hands—which until now have been tentatively flexing by his sides, to grip Magnus hard, pull him tight against him. And the tenderness Magnus had initiated between them is lost to something a little more demanding for a few minutes, with a kiss that leaves them breathless, their lips bruised, and their fingertips pressed into each other's skin in claim.

When they’ve pulled back a little, hands wrapped around each other’s arms, Magnus huffs to himself with a self-deprecating smile, and noses against Alec’s chin, turning it away.

“Alexander,” he says, kissing along his neck with a reproachful tone to his voice. “You are supposed to be letting me show you how much I love you. Not distracting me with confessions of your… wicked intentions,”

“They weren’t wicked,” Alec protests, though it only comes out soft, and earns him another hand swept up over his chest that is wide, and appreciative.

Magnus only hums in answer, leans up for a soft kiss, then sweeps his fingertips back down over Alec’s chest, and tucks his fingers into the waistband of his pants, one thumb circling over his belt buckle again. Magnus leans back to watch his face as he works open that buckle, his button, slides down his fly, then tucks his fingers into Alec’s sides, tugging so Alec knows he means to pull down his pants and boxers in one go, and smiling as he steadies himself on his arms to step out of them.

“Lay down for me,” Magnus whispers, another careless wave of his hand pulling back the comforter on their bed, before he snaps his fingers and frees himself of his own clothes, then presses one knee into the bed and gracefully swings the other over so he’s straddling Alec’s lap.

“Every last rune etched into your skin is a temptation for me,” Magnus tells him, reaching out to trace delicate fingertips over all those covering Alec’s chest. “And this one,” he adds, bending to mouth up the length of Alec’s deflect rune, “has been taunting me since before we officially met,”

Alec has fond memories of their first meeting. Those beautiful few seconds when there was just him and Magnus, and Alec’s guard came down just for being in his presence, allowing him to stutter and fumble over his words as he drank the sight of Magnus in, before having to snatch himself away. Magnus looks at him knowingly when he sits back up, raising his hands for Alec to know to slot his fingers through, and squeezes them lightly.   

“Look at you,” he breathes, in what sounds to Alec like sheer wonder; not that he thinks he should be on the receiving end of such looks, of course, keeping still and watching Magnus’ face as he sweeps his eyes up him in such appreciation, that Alec has to resist the urge to squirm. “But you need to know,” Magnus says then, tugging on his fingers so Alec knows to pay attention to him, “that for how very, _very_ , attracted I am to you, that is only but a part of why I love you so much,”

Alec’s throat catches, and he fights not to feel the sting of tears in his eyes. But then he gives in, because Magnus is bending over him, and muttering what feels like a hundred reasons for loving him into his skin, ear, lips—anywhere he can get to. He hears praise for things he doesn’t think he deserves, adulation for deeds he cannot take full credit for. Admiration for attributes that Alec doesn’t think are anything special, just a part of who he is. And utter, incredulous astonishment that he would allow Magnus to love him, in all the ways that he does.

Alec’s tears flow freely, and for once he doesn’t feel weak for them, but more an unburdening of sorrows. Things he’s kept to himself for too long thinking that to reveal them to anyone—even to Magnus—wouldn’t be allowed.    

“You are… everything to me, Alexander,” Magnus tells him, settling on his forearms with Alec’s face bracketed between them, and apparently in no hurry at all, for the sweet kisses he keeps giving him. The looks that are fond, and loving, and surprisingly to Alec, proud. “And if you ever doubt anything, have an awful day, or a terrible moment doing… anything. I want you to remember that, if you can’t find it in your heart to remember anything else,”

Alec tries to nod, feels a fresh flood of tears that Magnus raises up enough to kiss away the trail of that they’re leaving on his cheeks, then nudges his way into his neck and holds him as close as possible.

“Beautiful,” Magnus announces, before he’s sitting back up and settling, rearranging Alec how he wants him. Warm palms press against his inner thighs to splay them, feet flat to the bed with a gentle squeeze to his ankles, knees high and wide apart, with thumbs swirled in the exact spot to the back of them that he knows will make Alec smile for how much it tickles.

Alec’s stomach ripples at the exposure, but he doesn’t complain. Not for the way Magnus trails his fingers down his inner thighs in appreciation, fingertips caressing along the crease of them, slipping lower to stroke and cup his balls. He clicks his fingers filling the air with the delicate scent of an oil he likes using, and in no sign of any hurry, begins to stroke Alec hard, and tease him open in all the way he knows he likes. Those endearments are never-ending; praise for the noises he's making, hums of approval when he arches up, writhes down on his fingers, or spreads his legs a little wider. Magnus' love for him is never-ending, neither in word nor gesture.

More kisses follow when Magnus is satisfied Alec is ready, kneeling up and leaning over to press fresh kisses everywhere he can get to, with a loose-fisted stroke over his cock the entire time. Then he's sliding his hands down Alec's thighs, thumbing him open, and letting himself just look at Alec. Alec no longer feels exposed, he feels cherished. Loved. Cared for. And those tears have finally stopped.

“Now,” Magnus says, pausing first to hum appreciatively as he slides into Alec and settles on his knees, then groans softly, and whispers, “oh, that feels good,”

Alec has to agree, splaying his knees a little and settling his hands in a loose grip around Magnus’ waist as he withdraws himself, only to slide in again to strike in the very same spot. Magnus closes his eyes as he tumbles forward, nips at his jaw, then drops his head down into Alec’s neck, mouthing there as he keeps up that same rhythm, moving purposely slow, as though he’s savoring every inch of being inside him. Alec rolls up a fraction to meet him, moaning out a little himself as that perfect angle glances Magnus’ head over his prostate, and Magnus sinks a biting kiss into his throat.

“So good,” Magnus repeats, humming and mouthing hard against him, the tension in his body saying how much he’s forcing himself to go slow. Magnus nips at his neck again, then angles himself back up, arranging his arms so that he can stroke his thumb against Alec’s temple, and smiles down at him so happy, Alec has to echo it.

“Now,” he whispers, “what were you attempting to convince me of earlier? That you are… uninteresting? Unimaginative?”

Alec doesn’t want to answer, doesn’t want to do anything but hold on to Magnus, doesn’t want to disturb the peace that is this moment together.

Magnus answers him anyway, with a soft sigh and tiny shake of his head. “You have to know, Alexander, how very wrong you are about that,”

Magnus stills his hips, begins stirring them in a way that means he’s dragging inside Alec, setting off these small shoots of pleasure that make Alec’s stomach ripple and his cock jolt, and his fingers dig a little deeper into Magnus’ sides.

“You train, and you fight, and you defend, with such focus, and passion. You want the best for people, even if you struggle with the best ways to achieve that because of… things that are out of your hands,”   

Alec smiles at his words, not sure he can accept them, yet can answer in only a whimper for Magnus rolling his hips at an angle that drives him deeper into him. Watch as Magnus’ eyes flutter closed, and he bites down on his lower lip for a second, before bending down to kiss him with a smile.

“The people you love; they mean everything to you. Family. Friends. Me—”

“You’re both o’ those things. And more,” Alec manages to blast back at him, and earns himself another smile.

“And you love us all, so deeply, that you sometimes forget to take even a moment for yourself,” Magnus continues, though pauses from saying anything else just to kiss him, sighing and humming, with that continual gentle sweep of his thumb against Alec’s temple.

“You give so much of yourself, Alec,” Magnus continues, in that same, soft whisper. “I won’t do you the injustice of pretending you are some kind of… faultless saint. You can be grumpy, and sullen, and the Angel knows you are difficult to persuade once you have set your mind on anything,”

Alec smiles, running his fingertips over Magnus’ back and watching the expression on his face when he sweeps them lower, grips his ass, rolls up harder beneath him.

“You feel so good,” Magnus tells him, a soft groan falling from his lips at the same time as he falls forward, tucking his face into Alec’s neck once again, and slipping his hand through his hair to cradle the back of his head.   

“I love you, so much,” Magnus whispers, pressing it into his skin, then whimpering to himself, the tension he’s keeping for holding himself back proving too much.   

Alec arches up as he drives into him, slamming his hips harder for several strokes until he’s pulling back, straightening up, and Alec watches as Magnus forces himself to calm. Alec wants to tell him not to, to keep going and take whatever he wants to. But the look on Magnus’ face tells him that’s not what he’s planning, seconds before he’s falling forward once again and getting comfortable, barely stirring his hips as he kisses him.   

“I love you,” Magnus whispers again, staring at Alec until he knows that he’s heard him, smiling when he manages to croak back the same. Magnus tucks up closer all over again, apparently determined to take as long as possible to repeatedly whisper how much Alec means to him, bringing him closer and closer to the edge.   

“Would you ride me, Alexander?” he asks, smiling as Alec can only answer with a whimper for how much he likes that idea, already sweeping his hands down Magnus’ sides asking him to pull back. And when he sinks down onto him once they’ve rearranged themselves, that deeper, fuller feeling just for being on top has Alec groaning to himself even as he adjusts on his knees, luxuriating in the drag of Magnus inside him.

“Look at you,” Magnus says again, sweeping his hands up Alec’s chest before settling them on his hips.

“I’d… prefer to look at you,” Alec manages to stutter out, though it tails off into a whimper as he falls forward a little for the strength of a wave of pleasure rolling through him with a perfectly angled stir.

“I am yours to do whatever you want with,” Magnus replies, still that soft, honest whisper, and Alec’s heart soars for it. He never expected that this is how his evening would be ending, with Magnus showering him with endless love and praise, and so obviously meaning every word of it that Alec can’t help but listen. It’s a settling, calming feeling to be loved that much, especially after weeks of doubting that he would be worthy, and capable of such things. But Magnus’ smile for him is adoring, the sweep of his fingers down his thighs soothing, and the fullness of him filling him more than just the pleasure they’re seeking from each other, but grounding as well. Giving Alec a sense of belonging that he didn’t ever expect he’d be feeling, never once until Magnus came into his life thinking that was something he could have.

“Hey,” Magnus whispers, and Alec doesn’t want to be tearing up for all he’s thinking. But Magnus shows no pity for him, nor disdain for those tears that have started falling again. Only squeezes Alec’s hips so he knows he’ll be moving, then sitting up, rearranging himself a little, and holding Alec tight so he can do the same.   

“Hey,” Alec sighs, wrapping his arms around Magnus’ shoulders and pulling him close in relief, pressing grateful kisses up the side of his neck and face, and groaning at the angle change between them, and the sweep of Magnus’ hands up over his back.   

“How’re you doing?”

“Good,” Alec nods, “really good,” kissing it into his neck as he begins rocking in Magnus’ lap.

“Mm,” Magnus agrees, “you do feel that.” His hands are back on his hips to lightly guide him, chasing his lips for another kiss as Alec straightens up and pulls back.   

“I love you,” Alec whispers, and though they’ve already said it so many times this evening, there doesn’t feel like too many times Magnus can hear it from him. And they lose themselves to lazy kisses, and an even lazier stirring of his hips, until they’re smiling back at one another with their foreheads dropped together, and there’s little noise coming from either of them aside from the occasional sigh.

“I think,” Magnus whispers against his lips, “I would like to feel you inside me,”

Alec’s cock jolts at the thought, already imagining the squeeze of Magnus around him.

“Yeah,” he answers, voice gruff from the idea of how much he wants it.   

Magnus hums in approval, then gets this wicked smile about him, wrapping his arms around Alec’s back then deliberately falling backward so Alec's landing on top of him with a huff, groaning once more at their change of position. Alec tugs on Magnus’ hair in tease then claims his mouth again, swallowing every one of Magnus’ moans for every time he clenches around him.

“I have an idea,” Alec says then, his stomach knotting in anticipation at the thought. The smirk on Magnus’ face says he’s already expecting something good.

“I am yours to do with whatever you wish,” Magnus replies, arching his chest up in a long stretch, then reaching to tuck his fingers under their pillows. Smiling up at Alec in expectation.

“Stay there,” Alec instructs him, leaning down for one more kiss.

“Why? Where are you going?”

But Alec doesn’t answer him. Just raises himself up to pull off Magnus, then rearranges himself so he’s facing away from him, sinking back down on his cock with a deep, long groan.

“Alec,” Magnus calls out, his hands gripping around his hips, and for a second Alec feels himself angled forward. He groans as Magnus thrusts up into him, clearly watching the way he’s filling him whole.   

When Alec finds his voice, he clears his throat, and squeezes around Magnus’ fingers; even slotting his fingers through Magnus’ to drag around so he can stroke his cock. “Gonna help me out?”

“With what?” Magnus asks, deliberately swirling his thumb at an angle over his head that he knows will leave Alec whimpering. But then Alec is rearranging himself a little, stroking his hands down Magnus’ thighs, silently asking him to lift and splay them.

“Oh,” Magnus calls out, rocking up into him when he realizes his intentions, and Alec hears the click of his fingers behind him, then looks down at the small bottle of oil he’s holding out to press into his hands. Slumps forward as Magnus arranges his legs a little wider and tilts himself up a little to give Alec more room.

Alec steadies himself on Magnus’ splayed thighs for a second, stirring his hips with a groan for how that feels. Then reaches down between them, pressing his cheeks apart then dropping his other hand to run a finger over his hole, smiling at the whimper Magnus calls out with, then snatches up the oil he’s dropped to the bed and pours it over his hand, coating his fingers.

Spreading Magnus’ cheeks, Alec starts working his fingers into him, squeezing his thigh in apology when he doesn’t quite get the angle right, then moving as directed as Magnus angles himself up to give him even more room to get his fingers inside. It’s hard to concentrate for the way Magnus is spearing him open, and Alec’s instincts tell him to ride him harder, especially for every jolt of Magnus’ cock inside him in response to the way he’s opening him up.

“Now, Alexander,” Magnus asks, and Alec is pulling off him once again, settling between Magnus’ legs. Magnus arches up and calls out as he fills him, hands braced against his sides as he asks Alec to wait. Alec keeps perfectly still, watching and humming as Magnus flexes around him, adjusting to the fill of him when he’s not quite as opened up as he’d normally be.   

“Are you okay?” Alec asks, worried that he’s hurt him.

“I was… in a hurry,” Magnus smiles, flexing a little more. That slight pained expression morphing into something else as he shifts a little and bites down on his lip.

Alec doesn’t mean to, but finds that incredibly funny, and ducks down into Magnus’ neck where he laughs, fights to hide it, gets a slap on his ass for it that makes him jolt. Which Magnus hums at the feel of as though he _likes_ it, which just makes Alec wriggle the same way again.

“Hi,” he says, when he leans back up and braces on his forearms, staring down at Magnus and not sure he believes his own luck.

“Hello,” Magnus grins back up at him, sweeping his hands up repeatedly over his back.   

“Are you okay now?”

“I think so,” Magnus agrees, rolling his hips up a little and humming.

Alec presses a kiss to his cheek then withdraws himself slowly, filling Magnus again without taking his eyes off his face, to make sure he really is okay.   

“See?” Magnus whispers, arching up a little more. “Perfect. Just there,”

Alec can only do as is asked of him, keeping himself in the same position to slide into him in the exact way he likes. And Magnus is back to whispering things to him; this time about how good he feels, how much he loves the way he’s in him. All the things they’ve yet to try together that he wants them to, and the possibilities for a long weekend away from everything where they do nothing but explore each other’s bodies.

Alec can’t help reacting to his words, driving into him with increasing force, chasing every promise that Magnus is making him. Calling his name desperately the closer he gets to coming. He has just enough willpower to pause and slot his hand in between them, working Magnus’ cock in uneven strokes as he calls out, urging him faster. The most beautiful noises fall from Magnus’ lips as he comes, arching hard beneath him with his arms falling boneless against the bed. Alec braces himself, drives into him chasing his own orgasm, then calls out brokenly as he follows him, holding himself up for only seconds before he’s slumping with exertion, landing hard on Magnus’ chest.

“Sorry,” he blasts out, breathless even as Magnus lets out an _oof_ in response.

“I’m not,” Magnus replies, a little dazed, and Alec raises himself up just enough to catch his still-blissed out expression, before his eyes drop closed at Magnus flexing around him still inside.

“I love you,” Alec whispers the moment Magnus opens his eyes to him, leaning in to kiss him when he raises his chin for it, then dropping their foreheads together with a sigh.

“As I love you,” Magnus tells him, running soothing hands over his back and stretching luxuriously beneath him.   

Alec tucks in closer, presses his face into Magnus’ neck, closes his eyes as his arms wrap tight around him. And for a few unhurried minutes they don’t move at all, content to allow their breathing to settle, not ready to let each other go.

There is a brief grimace at the stickiness between them as they pull apart, some grumbles as they rearrange themselves side by side, and Alec is surprised when they lay there, that Magnus doesn’t do his usual trick of magicking them both clean.

“Wait there,” Magnus whispers when he looks at him with a silent question, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before sliding off the bed and disappearing. He comes back a moment later, clean himself but with a cloth between his fingers that is warm as he swirls it over Alec’s chest to clean him up by hand. Peppering kisses over his skin, and mouthing more _I love you_ s as he moves down him, taking his time as though it’s the only thing he needs to do.   

“Can I tell you something?” Magnus whispers when they’re tucked up together, fingers tangled in between them as they cool down side by side.

“Always,” Alec replies, shuffling a little to get more comfortable. “Anything,”

Magnus swallows hard, and the way his eyes dart away warn Alec that these next words will be difficult for him to get out. He squeezes Magnus’ hand in reassurance, and waits for him to speak.

“The first time we… the first time we were together like this— _before_ we were together like this,” Magnus amends, with a raise of his eyebrow that suggests he wants to be totally honest. “I was… terrified. That I would lose control, and you would see me like… this—”

Alec smiles as Magnus unglamors his eyes, reaches for him to cup his face as he did that first time, reassuring Magnus he has nothing to fear.

“—and I had… dreams about it. That you would… take one look at me as my true self, and you would turn from me. Want to put as much distance between us as possible. Never want anything to do with me again,”

“I love all of you,” Alec tells him, leaning in to kiss him, and dropping their foreheads together for a second before pulling back.

“I know you do,” Magnus agrees, and looks so elated for it, so triumphant, that Alec is helpless but to smile. “But I… it is difficult for me to… not remember other people and their reactions. Not necessarily like this—”

And Magnus is looking down between them in contrition, for the implication that there have been people before him.

“—but on so many occasions,”

“I love you,” Alec says again, shaking his head, not wanting to think of other people. “I love your eyes. I love… all of you,”

“I know you do,” Magnus agrees, leaning in for his own kiss. “But I didn’t know that then. I still feared that… that you would pull back,”

Alec rolls until he’s half-draped over him, and kisses him until Magnus is smiling against his lips.   

“And the… the morning after we… the first time we did _this_ —”

Alec can’t help find it endearing, the way Magnus goes between saying the most graphic, filthy things to him, and this embarrassed, blushing tone where he can barely make eye contact.

“—I was so sure I would wake to find you gone,”

Magnus’ confession has Alec startled, remembering the way he’d teased him about heading back to the Institute, and the answering panic on his face that he’d carefully tried to disguise. Alec aches for him, wraps him up in his arms and holds on to Magnus, until he’s sure that slight tremble he can feel is gone.

“But you weren’t,” Magnus says, like it’s still something that he is in awe about. “And it took me… several mornings waking up with you, before I… before I was sure you wouldn’t go. That you’d still be there when I woke up,”

Alec closes his eyes to the uncertainty in Magnus’ voice, presses a kiss to the back of his hair, and rolls them until Magnus burrows down against his chest.

“My point is,” Magnus says as he plays with his fingers, “that we both have things we are uncertain about. Insecurities… things we cannot let go of, just because we trust, and love each other. There will always be difficulties we face that are from our pasts. I think we… we should make the effort, to share those things with each other when they come up—which, I know, is so much easier to say when we are not _in_ that moment,”

“It’s something we should… work on,” Alec agrees, feeling both silly that it’s him that is the catalyst for them raising this issue, yet also proud of them both that they can talk about things like this so openly, without either of them overreacting. Too much, anyway.

“I love you,” Magnus says, lifting his head to tell him, propping himself up on his chin against Alec's chest and smiling sleepily, looking so beautiful, it puts a lump in Alec’s throat—a much kinder one than that taunting him earlier in the evening.   

“I love you too,” Alec whispers back to him, and the weight of all their words all evening has left him exhausted. There’s still more they could talk about, there will always be more; but right now, he wants to snuggle down under their blankets, wrap Magnus up tight in his arms, and go to sleep, more certain of himself than he’s been in weeks.

 


End file.
